Podcast: Russia's Fragile Federation

I have a questions which others may be able to answer. Did Russia miss out on the Renaissance? The Age of Reason doesn't quite seem to have taken root in the country. Is it the Asiatic part of the Russian psyche which makes them think differently from people in western Europe? Or are they the same?

We can only cross out fingers, and hope that yes, this time what remains of the Russian and Soviet imperial project will be finally neutered, as the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires were 100 years ago.

I think Goble's point didn't come across very coherently. He just seemed to be saying expect the unexpected over and over. That's fine advice, but it's not great analysis; and when Galeotti offered his own counter-points Goble seemed to just brush them aside and even seemed to imply Mark didn't know what he was talking about. Whether that's correct or not the latter seemed a lot more convincing.

In the year 1600 The East India Company received monopoly rights on trade on East India and turned United Kingdom into an empire. The East India Company's biggest threat to their trade empire where tariffs and national sovereignty.

Today Transnational Corporations and International Banks are intertwined by ownership and joined in a global trade empire that controlls 80% of the global trade. The biggest threat to their trade empire are still tariffs and national sovereignty.

To protect their trade (access to energy, raw materials, labor and markets) and their private wealth (the 1% owns today $110 trillion, which is half of the global wealth) they have created supranational entities like the UN, WTO, IMF, World Bank, International Courts and International Law.

Russia is their nightmare scenario - A sovereign nation with a leader who can strip the wealth from its oligarch's and transfere the wealth to the state. A sovereign nation that places National Interests above International Law.

Excellent discussion!

The dream of every neocon in D.C. Eh Brian?

Didn't you guys learn your lesson the hard way in 1999-2000?

The idea of Russia coming apart is wishful thinking. Ukraine looks more the role to further fragment.

Meantime, some others like South Ossetia and Pridnestrovie show a willingness to reunify with Russia. Who in the right mind would want to link with Kiev regime controlled Ukraine?

Thanks for the advice re my question about the Renaissance. But, who is Bob (see his comments above) and what is his slant?

Bob mentions the slant of RFERL. Yes, the slant is in favour of democracy, as it must be for all real journalists. Without democracy there is not real journalism, only propaganda. RFERL is imperfect in pursuing democracy, of course, but at least we know what the slant is and at least RFERL believes in something. So what is Russia's slant? What does Russia believe in? Communism? No longer. God? Not really. What?

Goble is so spot-on that it sent chills up my spine. Like Scholars analysts and skilled commentators Gobel is mindful of his professional reputation and therefore conservative and reluctant to commit to predictions. My intuition is that the hesitancy Gobel showed at points were self-imposed restraints on the expression of his very strong belief that the Emperor is very close to being exposed and deposed with devastating consequences for the entire Russian Federation. All that is needed in Moscow is a child's voice to cry our what is becoming increasingly obvious, "Look! The Emperor has no clothing." Of course.... I could be wrong.... it's an intuition from reading things between the lines of Russian public discourse that may not actually be there. And perhaps I am similarly only imagining that Gobel is reading it too. In any case, Great discussion.